Ezra Klein
NY Times, Nov. 13, 2024
“The Obama coalition was exhausted and defeated.”
In my post-election essay, I said that the 2024 election marked the end of the Obama coalition. But what does that mean?
Well, in part it means that some of the political strategies the Democrats thought would turn Obama’s 2008 and 2012 coalitions into an enduring generational majority — they’ve failed. Democrats worked damn hard over the past few years to deliver what they thought, what they were told, Black and Hispanic and working-class and union voters wanted.
And instead of solidifying support from those voters, they’re seeing them flee to Donald Trump. But I’m also saying something about the structure of the Democratic Party itself.
The Obama era wasn’t just built around one person. It was a collection of institutions and power bases and elite networks. Michael Lind, a columnist at Tablet, the author of the book “The New Class War” and a co-founder of New America has argued that it was kind of a political machine, one built around urban political support, foundations, nonprofits, mass media.… [To read the full article, click here.]
